College Student Booted From Gym For Top She Wears Around Campus Without Issue

By: Christopher Feery | January 17, 2019

If there’s a clearly posted and specific dress code outlined for an establishment, most folks will do their best to be mindful of it and not raise too much of an issue if they run afoul of expected standards. However, confusion reigns supreme when the staff is permitted to make judgement calls on clothing items that most people would think of as perfectly reasonable for the setting.

That’s the situation that 19-year-old College of Charleston student Sarah Villafane found herself in, as she was asked to leave the campus gym for wearing a shirt that she had worn around campus all day.

As AOL shares, Villafane was wearing a crop top, and she says that no eyebrows were raised during the day by her appearance. She’s posted some photos of what she was wearing, and it certainly seems like something that we’ve all seen others wear around the gym.

However, staff at the campus gym took exception to her attire, as she explained on social media.

“So I just got kicked out of the College of Charleston student gym for wearing this outfit. Like not allowed to work out. Not allowed to because of THIS OUTFIT THAT I BOUGHT SPECIFICALLY TO WORK OUT IN. I've worn this same outfit all day. Went to 3 classes and spoke personally with each of my professors today and they didn't have a problem,” she wrote.

Her post continued, “But when I walked into the gym they asked me to put on a different shirt. Obviously I didn't bring an extra shirt to the gym and wasn't about to wear my flannel while working out. So I just said mhm ok and went about my work out pretty pissed off that they even asked me to change.”

Villafane admits that she blew off the requests of the staff, but they weren’t letting it go. She wound up speaking to the ‘boss,’ who informed her that she would have to leave if she wasn’t going to put a shirt on.

Villafane’s post gained some attention, and it appears as if the campus gym staff attempted to clear things up. Sounds like they failed miserably.

“The gym has since said that they kicked me out for "sanitary concerns." However, they never made those sanitary concerns clear when they asked me to change. They told me I need "more coverage" and nothing more,” Villafane wrote. “Not to mention, their website has no written dress code anyway. The dress code at the front of the gym simply says "Athletic wear must be worn." I would say that what I'm wearing (whether you believe it's a sports bra or a crop top) is completely normal and considered athletic wear.”

Sounds like the campus gym really needs to get a handle on their dress code and make it clear. Some training for employees wouldn’t hurt either, as this was an unfortunate incident that could have been handled with a little more tact.

Villafane clearly didn’t think she was in violation here due to unclear standards, and that falls on the gym to clearly point out what the problem is in a polite fashion.